Q&A with Working Student Jonas
Hello Jonas! Could you introduce yourself and your position in the planeus team?
Sure, I’m Jonas Krönke, 23 years old and currently studying Marketing Management in my 5th semester. I support our planeus sales team and am in constant contact with manufacturers and digital transformation specialists to modernize their productions. I also support our marketing team and help them with many tasks.
How dynamic is it to work with a team of digital production planning experts?
Jonas: It is very dynamic. We often work together to complete our tasks and reach our deadlines. For example, if a manufacturer is looking for a digital production planning solution, I can quickly arrange a consultation appointment between our expert consultants and the manufacturer to discuss a bespoke solution for their specific field of production. With our seamless operation, this ensures that the manufacturer who comes to us can have a smooth onboarding process and always has an expert at their side to guide them every step of the way.
What do you think are the main reasons that hinders manufacturers digitally transforming their production?
Jonas: I think the reasons are not within the production itself, but within people’s minds. First, people often refuse to think the other way around and close themselves off to digital products and mindsets, no matter how well-proven the solutions or how experienced the experts are. I often hear “We’ve always done it this way and it works really well”. And when the moment comes to show that the old way can no longer cope with a modern situation, it is often too late to switch and you’re stuck in the vicious cycle for a very long time.
Second, there was often a conflict between the user and the decision-maker. What I mean by this is that some production planners see the need of a tool for better planning, but the management does not. This is due to the lack of understanding and therefore, we often walk alongside and implement the solution together with both sides.
The last one that I could think of is definitely misusing and misunderstanding the software they already possess. Many people think that planning with an ERP system is already the best they can do, and some even still believe that planning with Excel sheets is the definition of “Digital Manufacturing”. These are all far from what a production plan actually needs.
In your experience, what are the biggest differences between studying and working in digital transformation?
Jonas: In my studies, I often deal with the topic of digital transformation and discuss its methods, approaches and models to optimize a business workflow. However, together with our planeus team, I often come across many manufacturers who “think” they can just buy a few products and then automatically transform their production digitally.
It was an eye-opening experience to see the huge gap between the theoretical and real-life understanding of digital transformation. To me, Digital Transformation is the combination of digital products and the way of thinking. Therefore, it requires a well-structured and step-by-step process to ensure a successful transformation or it will fail and all time and effort will be wasted.
What do you think are the most misunderstood aspects of digitalization?
Jonas: I think the most misunderstood aspect of digitalization is relying solely on the software itself and ignoring the concepts and mindsets behind the solution. A digital solution is built on a set of modern concepts and methodologies. Without understanding these, no solutions will be of any use and at the end of the day, manufacturers would give up on digitizing their business and not be able to remain competitive in the industry.
Another big misconception is the belief of needing an IT department for digital transformation. This is utterly not true, as a cloud-based solution, like planeus, can be used directly through the browser. This means that nothing needs to be installed on site and all IT supports will come from our service team, providing direct and timely assistance.
Thank you for the great work and wish you the best for your studies!
Jonas: Sure, no problem! Happy to share my observations and experience on this topic and I hope this could shed a light for manufacturers who are still on the look of a digital production planning solution.
